Celebrating Hispanic Heritage: Patricia Brennan (Timpani and Percussion ’08)

“The jazz world can get stuck in a battle between the head and the heart, but rarely do you find an improviser like Patricia Brennan [whose] music seems to exist in a realm outside the body, but stays loaded with feeling.” –Giovanni Russonello, The New York Times

Mexican-born vibraphonist, marimbist, improviser, composer, educator, and Curtis alumna Patricia Brennan (Timpani and Percussion ’08) “has been widely feted as one of the instrument’s newer leaders,” observed the New York City Jazz Record. She won the rising star vibraphonist award from Downbeat magazine’s 70th (2022) and 72nd (2024) Critics Poll and was listed #4 vibraphonist of the year on the 71st (2023) and 72nd (2024) Critics Poll.

Ms. Brennan inherited a deep love and appreciation for musical tradition from both of her parents, as well as the musical richness of her native Port of Veracruz in Mexico. She started studying music at age four, playing Latin percussion along with salsa records with her father and listening to Jimi Hendrix and Led Zeppelin records with her mother. Also, around the same age, she started playing piano, influenced by her grandmother, who was a concert pianist.

At age 17, Ms. Brennan was selected from musicians all over the Americas to be part of the Latin GRAMMY Award-winning Youth Orchestra of the Americas and toured each country in the Americas, performing with renowned musicians such as Yo-Yo Ma and Paquito D’Rivera. Before moving to the United States, she was performing with the top symphony orchestras in Mexico, including the Xalapa Symphony Orchestra and Minería Symphony Orchestra. Winner of several awards through various marimba competitions and young artist competitions in Mexico and abroad, Ms. Brennan was prominently featured in the Líderes Mexicanos magazine in 2003 before she was accepted at Curtis in 2004, where she studied with Don Liuzzi, principal timpanist of the Philadelphia Orchestra. While at the school, she performed under the baton of conductors such as Simon Rattle and Charles Dutoit and played with the Philadelphia Orchestra and with members from the contemporary music sextet Eighth Blackbird.

Ms. Brennan’s search for freedom in her musical expression led her to find her voice through the vibraphone and mallet percussion in improvisational music and composition, and she has gone on to perform in venues such as Newport Jazz Festival, SF JAZZ, and Carnegie Hall, as well as international venues such as Wiener Konzerthaus in Vienna, Austria, Palacio de Bellas Artes in Mexico City and Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires, Argentina. She has also appeared on National Television, Public Radio, and the BBC radio show “Freeness,” hosted by Corey Mwamba. She has appeared on numerous recordings from classical to improvised music, including an ECM recording with Michael Formanek Ensemble Kolossus called The Distance and a world premiere recording with the Curtis Symphony Orchestra and Christoph Eschenbach on Ondine Records.

Her acclaimed debut solo album Maquishti, released on Valley of Search, was listed #4 on the New York Times “10 Best Jazz Albums of 2021,” and her sophomore album, More Touch, released in November 2022 on Pyroclastic Records, received multiple accolades from critics. More Touch was included in several Best Jazz Albums of 2022 lists, such as NPR’s Best Music, Bandcamp’s Best Jazz Albums, and PopMatters’ Best Jazz Albums. Brennan recently released her third album as a leader, Breaking Stretch, featuring the Patricia Brennan Septet on September 6, 2024, on Pyroclastic Records, and recorded her duo project TALAMANTI with pianist Sylvie Courvoisier, which should be expected to be released in 2025.

“As soon as the opportunity to attend Curtis came up, I didn’t hesitate. This migration meant freedom to pursue my dreams…Percussion quartet music was one of my passions when at Curtis. Also, being a part of the percussion section of all the musical traditions growing up has always been part of my identity. I wanted to honor that with the music of More Touch.” –Patricia Brennan in an interview with Burning Ambulance, about her latest album.

Patricia Brennan is a Valley of Search artist, Pyroclastic Records artist, BlueHaus Mallets artist, and Audeze artist. She currently serves on faculty at the jazz arts program at Manhattan School of Music, the New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music, and at the jazz studies program at NYU Steinhardt.

Visit Patricia Brennan’s official website and learn about her upcoming performances.

Explore more Curtis history at the Curtis Institute of Music Open Archives and Recitals (CIMOAR) digital collections. Learn more about Curtis’s library and archives HERE.

Photo Credits: 1 & 2.) Portraits of Ms. Brennan by Noel Brennan 4.) Patricia (Franceschy) Brennan listening to a score of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Così fan tutte at the Rock Resource Center on the Curtis campus; John Paul Lacovara. 4.) Ms. Brennan performing on the stage of Field Concert Hall with Gabriel Glotus-Hoenich (Timpani and Percussion ’08); John Paul Lacovara. 5.) Patricia Brennan and pianist Sylvie Courvoisier (TALAMANTI) promo shot; Véronique Hoegger. 6.) The Patricia Brennan Septet in a promotional shot for her 2024 Pyroclastic Records album, Breaking Stretch; Frank Heath.